By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
All these years later, Joe McLenaghan remembers the handshake that served as a simple, yet poignant gesture that welcomed him home in 1970 after he returned from serving in the Vietnam War.
McLenaghan was riding a bus then from 69th Street in Upper Darby, Pa., to Havertown, Pa., when a woman spotted him wearing his green Army uniform and asked him about his military service.
“At that point, a guy who was a World War II veteran and was a passenger on the bus came up to me and shook my hand and said, ‘Welcome home,’” McLenaghan recalled.
There were others, though, who greeted McLenaghan coldly or made snide comments about Vietnam veterans being “baby killers” after he returned home from the war.
“But what I remember most about coming home is the handshake,” he said of the World War II veteran. “That’s the way I’ll always remember it, instead of the bad stuff.”
All of those memories – both warm and painful – came rushing back to McLenaghan on Monday morning when residents and visitors in Sea Isle City paused for a moment of silence to commemorate National Vietnam War Veterans Day.
McLenaghan, 72, who lives in Sea Isle, proudly held an American flag that flapped in the breeze during a small gathering involving local officials and bystanders at Veterans Park.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio pointed out the stark differences in the way the country treats its veterans as heroes these days, but viewed them as outcasts during the tumultuous Vietnam era.
“We are doing this to show respect for all Vietnam veterans who served our nation and often have been overlooked,” Desiderio said in a statement. “Many veterans who served in the Vietnam War were not properly recognized – or worse, were treated with disrespect – when they came home from serving in Southeast Asia.”
Normally, Sea Isle recognizes National Vietnam War Veterans Day each year with formal ceremonies involving hundreds of people, but could not this year because of the crowd restrictions imposed during the pandemic.
Instead, Desiderio, City Councilmen William Kehner, Jack Gibson and J.B. Feeley and Police Chief Tom McQuillen joined with McLenaghan and fellow Vietnam War veteran Charles “Chick” Haines” in a small gathering at the Veterans Park monument to observe a moment of silence at 11 a.m. About 15 onlookers standing on the sidewalk also bowed their heads.
“It’s nice to be appreciated, especially after we endured what we had to endure, and it’s very nice that people are thinking of us,” said Haines, who served in the Navy during the war and is currently the commander of Sea Isle’s VFW Post 1963.
During the war, McLenaghan served in the Army for two years, spending 1969 in Vietnam. He was a flight engineer aboard the big CH-47 Chinook helicopters that would bring food, water, ammunition and other supplies to the troops on the ground.
“We got shot at a few times and took a few rounds here and there,” he said of his helicopter coming under enemy fire.
McLenaghan now serves as a member of VFW Post 1963. Before the pandemic forced the cancellation of the events, he would appear with Post 1963’s Honor Guard to hold the American flag during the Memorial Day, Veterans Day and National Vietnam War Veterans Day ceremonies in Sea Isle.
“I feel honored to be in the Honor Guard. It gives me a great sense of honor and pride,” he said.
On Monday morning, McLenaghan served as a one-man Honor Guard holding the American flag as he and the others observed a moment of silence in front of the Veterans Park Memorial Fountain that commemorates the Vietnam War and other wars.
